Magnetic Island: As close to roughing at as we'll get!

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More than a little sad to be leaving Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays behind, we continued on our course up north to check out the attraction of Magnetic Island. The hostel we stayed in apparently won Best Backpacker Accomodation of the Year in 2007, and although it was certainly nice, clean and comfortable we weren't convinced that it was the best so far! The dorms were small 'A Frame' wooden huts which were (appart from a thin gauze) open to the elements and the wildlife (as my mosquito bites testify) at either end! The kitchen area was enclosed but the dining area was not and we were joined by possums every night as they tried to scavenge food.

When we arrived there we were extremely tired after the lack of sleep the two previous nights from partying then travelling, we were also in the frame of mind that the Whitsundays was where we wanted to be so we were hardly open to the beauty of "Maggie" but thankfully that mood only lasted the first day!

After a good half day's and full night's sleep, we woke to the sound of birds calling as the sun came up and were determined to be proved right in choosing to stop on the Island. Our first activity was a visit to the hostel's on site Koala Sanctuary which was included in the price of the package we had booked. During the two hour, warden guided tour we got the chance to hold a Crocodile, a Blue-Tongued Lizard, a Cockatoo and a Koala! I quite like my wildlife wild so I wasn't sure about holding the animals at first but the wardens explained that they were well protected by government regualtions and that they wouldn't be at all stressed by being handled. It was pretty awesome to get that close to animals we had previously only seen from a distance in the wild or behind a fence in a Sanctuary. Dexter the Koala wasn't quite as cuddely as you'd expect and he smelt a bit of cheese but he was still undeniably cute! The wardens took our picture holding him so we had a souvenir of the day.

A large proportion of "Maggie" is national park so there are lots of walking trails to follow. In the afternoon we did the Forts walk which is about an hour and a half round an old forts site that protected Townsville during WW2. There isn't much of the Forts left but the walk does offer some spectacular views and we even spotted a mother and joey Koala sitting in a tree which really was cute!

After another night in our hut with sleep broken by the calls of Kookaburas and some unidentified birds which sound like little girls screaming (quite disturbing in the middle of a pitch black night) we embarked on a lazy stroll along Horseshoe Bay in the morning and a longer (about 8-10km) hike round to some of the nearest bays in afternoon. The second walk was really quite hard work in the heat of the afternoon up and down rough makeshift steps (really just random boulders) but was again very picturesque offering more Koala sightings along the way.

Feeling thoroughly exercised after our lazy week in Airlie we ended up suitably impressed by "Maggie" as it really does have a completely different kind of charm to the Whitsundays: the sand may not be a white but the dense Eucalypt forests and bizarre rock formations are equally beautiful.

Photos to follow in the next 24 hours! xx

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